2A00:23C6:A4C0:AD01:1D4F:6319:A9F2:54FC at 14:36, 19 September 2025

2025-09-19T14:36:28Z

New page

{{Short description|Scottish surgeon and botanist (1751–1815)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = William Roxburgh
| image = William Roxburgh.jpg
| caption = Engraving by [[Charles Warren (engraver)|Charles Turner Warren]]
| birth_date = 29 June 1751
| birth_place = Underwood, [[Craigie, South Ayrshire|Craigie]], [[Ayrshire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1815|04|10|1751|06|29}}
| death_place = Park Place, [[Edinburgh]]
| citizenship =
| nationality = Scottish
| field = surgeon, [[botanist]]
| work_institutions =
| alma_mater =
| doctoral_advisor = [[John Hope (botanist)|John Hope]]
| doctoral_students =
| known_for =
| author_abbrev_bot = Roxb.
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| influences =
| influenced =
| prizes =
| religion =
| footnotes =
| signature =
}}
'''William Roxburgh''' [[FRSE]] [[FRCPE]] [[Linnean Society of London|FLS]] (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815<ref>Robinson (2008):5–6.</ref>) was a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. He published numerous works on Indian botany, illustrated by careful drawings made by Indian artists and accompanied by taxonomic descriptions of many plant species. Apart from the numerous species that he named, many species were named in his honour by his collaborators. He was the first to document the existence of the [[Ganges river dolphin]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sinha K. |first=Ravindra |date=2014 |title=Ganges River Dolphin: An Overview of Biology, Ecology, and Conservation Status in India |journal=[[Journal of Biology]] |volume=43 |issue=8 |pages=1029–1046 |doi=10.1007/s13280-014-0534-7 |pmc=4235892 |pmid=24924188|bibcode=2014Ambio..43.1029S }}</ref>

==Early life==
He was born on 29 June 1751<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=23 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> on the Underwood estate near [[Craigie, South Ayrshire|Craigie]] in [[Ayrshire]] and christened on 29 June 1751 at the nearby church at [[Symington, South Ayrshire|Symington]].<ref>Symington Parish records</ref>

His father may have worked in the Underwood estate or he may have been the illegitimate son of a well-connected family.<ref>Robinson (2008):5-7.</ref> His early education was at Underwood parish school perhaps also with some time at Symington parish school, and he probably also had private tutoring in Latin, as demonstrated by his letters and some descriptions.

He studied medicine at [[Edinburgh University]] and matriculated around 1771 or 1772. He lived with the well-connected family of Dr John Boswell, living at "the back of the [[The Meadows (park)|Meadows]]"<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1773</ref> in south [[Edinburgh]] during this period. He studied surgery under [[Alexander Monro (secundus)|Dr Alexander Monro]] and learnt botany under [[John Hope (botanist)|John Hope]]. His studies included mathematics and physics, which would make him interested in precise quantification later in life in studies on hemp.

He joined (as a surgeon's mate) an [[British East India Company|East India Company]] ship ''[[Houghton (East Indiaman)|Houghton]]'' in 1772 serving under surgeon Richard Ballantyne. He also served on the ''[[Queen (East Indiaman)|Queen]]'' in 1774.<ref>Robinson (2008):22.</ref> Several of these voyages took him to Madras and other ports in India. In 1776 he received his first doctorate (MD) from Edinburgh University.

He joined the [[Indian Medical Service|Madras Medical Service]] as an Assistant Surgeon on 28 May 1776 and was promoted to the rank of Surgeon in 1780. He received a second doctorate (also MD) on 12 January 1790 from [[Marischal College]] in [[Aberdeen]].<ref name=noltie>{{cite book|author=Noltie, H.J. |year=1999| title=Indian botanical drawings 1793–1868.|isbn=1-872291-23-6}}</ref><ref name=grove>{{cite book|author=Grove, R. H. |year=1997| title=Ecology, Climate and Empire| publisher=The White House Press| isbn=1874267189|page=128}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Roxburgh Building - Indian Botanic Garden - Howrah 2013-03-31 5722.JPG|thumb|Roxburgh's residence at the [[Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden]] at Howrah.<ref>"The Telegraph – Calcutta (Kolkata) | Metro | Restore Plan for Ruin." The Telegraph – Calcutta (Kolkata) | Metro | Restore Plan for Ruin. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 April 2013.</ref>]]
Roxburgh began work in the [[Carnatic region]] from 1781 and replaced [[Patrick Russell (herpetologist)|Patrick Russell]] as the Company Botanist in Madras in April 1789. His early work was on [[botany]] as superintendent in the Samalkot garden in the [[Northern Circars]]. Here he conducted [[economic botany]] experiments. He employed native artists to illustrate plants. He had 700 illustrations by 1790. He then succeeded [[Patrick Russell (herpetologist)|Patrick Russell]] (1727–1805) as Naturalist to the Madras Government in April 1789. From 1793, he and Andrew Ross established a garden at Corcondah, where they worked on sugarcane and indigo. He also studied the prospects of introducing sago and other food crops to help alleviate the effect of famine.<ref>Robinson (2008):32-33.</ref> He was invited to fill the position of Superintendent at the Calcutta Botanical Garden where the death of Colonel Robert Kyd had created a vacancy.<ref>Robinson (2008):38.</ref><ref name=jstor>{{cite journal |last=Sealy |first=J. R. |date=1956 |title=The Roxburgh Flora Indica Drawings at Kew |jstor=4109049|journal=Kew Bulletin |publisher=Springer |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=297–348 |doi=10.2307/4109049 |bibcode=1956KewBu..11..297S }}</ref> He made rapid progress and acquired a good reputation and was later invited by the government of [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], to take charge of the [[Indian Botanical Gardens|Calcutta Botanical gardens]] from Colonel [[Robert Kyd]] in 1793 as Superintendent of the Company garden at Sibpur near Calcutta. A catalogue of the garden was made in 1814 – ''Hortus Bengalensis''. He was succeeded by [[Francis Buchanan-Hamilton]].

He had sent many illustrations to Sir [[Joseph Banks]], who in May 1795, started publishing ''Plants of the coast of Coromandel'' in 3 volumes with over 300 drawings and descriptions of plants. The last part was published in March 1820.<ref name=jstor/> The names of the local artists who produced the botanical illustrations were not recorded.

He meticulously collected vast amounts of meteorological data for years, and is considered as a pioneer in the collection of tropical meteorological data, to an extent unrivalled elsewhere until the 1820s.<ref name=grove /> He had begun collecting detailed meteorological data as soon as he set foot in India, at [[Madras]], and is known to have taken measurements three times a day, using Ramsden [[barometers]] and Nairne [[thermometers]], made by then reputed scientific instrument makers, [[Jesse Ramsden]] and [[Edward Nairne]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Roxburgh, W |year=1790|url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans03742676 |title=A meteorological diary kept at Fort St George in the East Indies|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|doi=10.1098/rstl.1778.0012|last2=Pringle|first2=J.|volume=68|pages=180–193|doi-access=free}}</ref> He trained under John Hope, who was the curator of the [[Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh|Edinburgh botanical garden]] as well an experimental physiologist. Roxburgh's interest in systematic meteorology may have stemmed from the influence of John Hope as well as his experiences at the [[Royal Society of Arts]] which, in the early 1770s, was greatly influenced by the climatic theories of [[Stephen Hales]] and [[Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau|Duhamel du Monceau]]. Such detailed measurements over many years led him to form an opinion on widespread famine and climate change in the [[British India|empire]].<ref name=grove />

He became a member of the [[Asiatic Society]], to whose Transactions he contributed, from time to time, many valuable papers. Amongst these was one of singular interest on the lacca insect, from which the substance [[Lac (resin)|lac]] is made.

In 1813, he returned to [[Scotland]] due to poor health.<ref>Robinson (2008):73.</ref> To recuperate from his illness before continuing his voyage to Scotland, he stopped at [[Saint Helena]] island on 7 June 1813 and left on 1 March 1814. Despite his poor health he produced an annotated list of Saint Helena plants during his stay. This list formed the only accessible printed account of the flora until 1875. This was published as an appendix to Beatson's Tracts 1816.<ref>[[Quentin Cronk|Cronk, Q.C.B.]] (1995). ''The Endemic Flora of St Helena''. Anthony Nelson Ltd., Oswestry.</ref>
He appears to have lived in, or close to, his original Edinburgh lodgings, then known as 4 Park Place or Street on the Meadows. He died there on 18 February 1815 and was buried nearby in [[Greyfriars Kirkyard]]. He was outlived by his third wife Mary.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Annals Of The Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta |journal=Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta |volume=V |pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=23 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Recognition==
[[Image:Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden - Howrah 2011-01-08 9711.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Roxburgh monument at the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden.]]
In 1791 he was erected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. His proposers were [[William Wright (botanist)|William Wright]], [[Daniel Rutherford]] and [[John Walker (natural historian)|John Walker]]. In 1799 he was elected a Fellow of the [[Linnean Society]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=23 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1802, Roxburgh was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] held in [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=William+Roxburgh&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-01|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

In 1805, he received the gold medal of the [[Society for the Promotion of Arts]] for a series of highly interesting and valuable communications on the subject of the productions of the East and a second gold medal in 1803 for a communication on the growth of trees in India. On 31 May 1814, he was presented, in the presence of a large assembly, a third gold medal by the [[Duke of Norfolk]] (then, the president of the Society of Arts).

Soon after receiving this last honourable testimony of high respect, Roxburgh returned to Edinburgh, where he later died. He was created Keeper of the [[Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh]] on arrival until death.

==Posthumous honours==
In 1820, at the Mission Press in Serampore, [[William Carey (missionary)|William Carey]] posthumously edited and published vol. 1 of Dr. William Roxburgh's ''Flora Indica; or Descriptions of Indian Plants''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Flora Indica; or Descriptions of Indian Plants, by the Late William Roxburgh. Edited by William Carey, D.D., to Which are Added Descriptions of Plants More Recently Discovered by Nathaniel Wallich. Serampore, West Bengal, India {{!}} International Plant Names Index |url=https://www.ipni.org/p/935-2 |website=www.ipni.org |access-date=13 September 2021}}</ref> In 1824, Carey edited and published vol. 2 of Roxburgh's ''Flora Indica'', including extensive remarks and contributions by Dr. [[Nathaniel Wallich]]. Carey and Wallich continued to work in the field of botany and in 1834, both Carey and Wallich contributed botanical specimens to the [[Royal Society for Agriculture and Botany]]'s Winter Show in [[Ghent]], Belgium.

''[[Rosa roxburghii]]'' was initially named ''Rosa microphylla'' by Dr. Roxburgh in 1820, but because [[René Louiche Desfontaines]] had previously applied the name 'microphylla' to an unrelated European species in 1798. The name was then changed in 1823 by (Austrian botanist) [[Leopold Trattinnick]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Chestnut Rose |url=http://www.southernedition.com/TheChestnutRose.html |publisher=southernedition.com |access-date=24 March 2015}}</ref>

==Authority abbreviation==
{{botanist|Roxb.}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book|author=Robinson, Tim|year=2008| title=William Roxburgh. The Founding Father of Indian Botany. |publisher=Phillimore| place=Chichester, England}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/hortusbengalensi00roxb Hortus Bengalensis (1814)]
* [http://www.botanicus.org/title/b12006488 Plants of the coast of Coromandel on Botanicus]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060814214013/http://www.kew.org/floraIndica/home.do Searchable online version of ''Flora Indica''] Scanned volumes [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/589] [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/590]
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
| title = Naturalist to the H.E.I.C. at [[Madras Presidency|Madras]]
| years = 1789–1793
| with =
| before = [[Patrick Russell (herpetologist)|Patrick Russell]]
| after = [[Benjamin Heyne]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roxburgh, William}}
[[Category:British pteridologists]]
[[Category:Economic botanists]]
[[Category:Botanists with author abbreviations]]
[[Category:1815 deaths]]
[[Category:1751 births]]
[[Category:Botanists active in India]]
[[Category:British East India Company people]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish surgeons]]
[[Category:Scottish people of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People from East Ayrshire]]
[[Category:People from South Ayrshire]]
[[Category:Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish botanists]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish medical doctors]]
[[Category:Scottish taxonomists]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]

William Roxburgh - Revision history

2A00:23C6:A4C0:AD01:1D4F:6319:A9F2:54FC at 14:36, 19 September 2025